Galamsey: A Cruel Menace That Crushed Our Heroes Through A Helicopter Crash

The skies wept on Wednesday, 6th August 2025, as Ghana was struck by an unimaginable tragedy. Eight gallant sons of the nation, including the Honourable Minister for Defence, Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, and the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, and MP for Tamale Central Constituency, Hon. Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, perished in a horrific Ghana Air Force Z9 helicopter crash on a forested mountainside, Dampia Range Forest Reserve near Brofoyedru Sikaman in the Adansi Akrofuom Municipality of the Ashanti Region.

These heroes were on a critical national assignment; attending the launch of an anti-illegal mining programme, dubbed “The Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (RCOMSDEP)” at the Obuasi Black Park in Obuasi when death snatched them away. Their lives were cut short by the very scourge they sought to eradicate: the ruthless, lawless, and environmentally catastrophic practice of illegal mining.

Amongst those who also died were Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Hon. Dr. Samuel Sarpong, Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Mr. Samuel Kwaku Adu Aboagye, Deputy Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO). The remaining three were gallant soldiers from the Air Force Wing of the Ghana Armed Forces, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manaen Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.

This tragedy is not just an accident; it is a damning indictment of the wickedness of galamsey. It is a stark reminder that this criminal enterprise does not just poison our rivers, decimate our forests, and rob our future; it kills. It kills our land, our people, and now, our finest public servants who dared to confront it. If this does not awaken our collective rage and demand for justice, what will?

As a way of reflection, a similar incident happened on Monday, 29th May 2017, during President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo's first term and first year in government at Denkyira Obuasi of the Upper West Denkyira District in the Central Region when young military officer, 31-year-old Major Maxwell Adam Mahama met his untimely death in his attempt to fight illegal mining. He was crucified with big stones and big sticks until he died, like the biblical narrative of Acts 7, Stephen, a Christian deacon, who was stoned to death by a mob after being accused of blasphemy.

Unfortunately, both incidents have happened in the first years of assumption of President John Dramani Mahama and Former President Akuffo Addo, explaining why there's a need for a declaration of a state of emergency on galamsey to prevent another tragic incident from happening.

Illegal mining is not just a crime; it is an act of national betrayal. Those who engage in it are not mere criminals; they are enemies of the state, waging war against our environment, our health, and our very survival. They dig graves for future generations by turning fertile lands into toxic wastelands. They murder our rivers, leaving communities to drink poison. And now, their destruction has claimed the lives of patriots who stood in their way.

The government must therefore prioritize starting a serious fight against galamsey from the area where the helicopter crashed to serve as a deterrent to illegal miners. The helicopter crash that killed our ministers and six others is a grim symbol of galamsey's deadly reach. While investigations continue, one thing is clear: the devastation caused by illegal mining creates hazardous conditions; deforested landscapes, unstable pits, and polluted air that may have contributed to this disaster. Even if indirectly, galamsey has blood on its hands. Ghana cannot afford to be gentle with galamsey operators anymore. They have shown us their true nature; ruthless, greedy, and destructive.

We must respond with equal ferocity in the following ways:

1. Security-Led Crackdowns Must Intensify: The Police and Armed Forces should be given full authority to dismantle every illegal mining operation, arrest financiers, and seize equipment. No more warnings; only action; they should place the fight against galamsey on a war footing. They are security personnel and know one way of dealing with crisis situations, and that is action, as may be said by former Ghana's military head of state, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.

2. Life Sentences for Galamsey Kingpins: Those who fund and profit from this destruction must face the harshest penalties. If their greed kills, they must be locked away forever.

3. Citizen Vigilance & Whistleblower Protection: Every Ghanaian must be a soldier in this war. Report galamsey activities, protect our lands, and demand accountability from leaders. As proud citizens of Ghana, born with a deep sense of pride nurtured with unshakable courage, we must say goodbye forever to reaction, timidity, and hypocrisy in this fight against galamsey and to the suppression of the interests and welfare of one another. Together, we shall make Ghana crush this deadly menace.

4. Restoration, Not Just Punishment: Mining companies and convicted galamsey financiers must be forced to fund the rehabilitation of destroyed ecosystems.

5. Involvement and Empowerment of Traditional Rulers in the Fight Against Galamsey: Traditional rulers are the custodians of their lands, and therefore involving and empowering them will intensify the fight against galamsey and prevent our ecosystem from further deteriorating.

6. Use of Sophisticated Technologies, Undercover/Investigative Journalism, and Undercover Security Personnel: The use of sophisticated technologies at all galamsey sites to track the activity. Undercover journalism and undercover security personnel, like national security personnel and other investigative security agencies, should be sponsored by the government to be involved in exposing the people involved; from internationals to political kingpins to business moguls to traditional leaders; from the top to the bottom.

The deaths of Dr. Omane Boamah, Dr. Murtala Mohammed, and the six others must not be in vain. Their mission to save Ghana from the clutches of galamsey must become our mission. We owe it to their memory, to our children, and to the soul of this nation to fight this evil with everything we have. Galamsey is not just illegal mining; it is national sabotage. It is time to crush it with the full, unrelenting force of the law. Let this tragedy be the turning point. Let us rise and let justice be done.

Rest in power, gallant heroes. Your fight is now ours.

#GalamseyMustFall
#NeverAgain

Stephen Boakye (Sky B)
+233550308147

Nana Yaw Boakye Yiadom Opoku Agyemang (N.Y.B.Y.O.A.)
+233243965430
[email protected]